-Dieter Cantu

The Purpose

The purpose of this program is to make a variety of books readily available for the youth housed at various Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) facilities. As a former youth who was incarcerated at many of these facilities, I know firsthand what a difference a program like this could have made for me and my peers.

​The goal is to use these books to improve their literacy and reading skills which will enable them to further their education. Since these are adolescents, they are more impressionable, which can make a program like this ignite a new passion in them for learning, and hopefully steer them away from returning to the system.

Many of the youth currently incarcerated are products of the school to prison pipeline. This approach to addressing youth with minor infractions levies severe disciplinary repercussion and forgoes a rehabilitative process which would curtail negative stigmas associated with corrective actions.​

When I spent time incarcerated as a youth, the only thing that kept me sane at times was reading. Having a lengthy sentence at a young age, I lost hope on multiple occasions when my thoughts were either consumed with negativity or my mind was idle due to the fact that there simply wasn't anything for me to do. Not only did I wish for books to read, more importantly I sought out books that would benefit my personal growth and help me as an adult male transitioning back into society. Again, I was entering a system as a youth but I would be released as an adult, and the books that were available to me were either fictional, outdated, or written for an age group that was way younger than me. The books that were available just didn't possess any kind of value to me or my long term goals.

My idea for starting this project is to not only better prepare the youth for their return to society, but to instill a sense of belief in the midst of others trying to taint their reality. When I was in juvenile detention I remember certain correctional officers using the phrase "mental chains are the hardest ones to break", meaning in so many words that if an individual doesn't want to change that he/she is too old to be helped. I wanted to use this same phrase and turn that negative connotation into a positive. I'm a product of my thoughts, i'm not a product of my environment or my current situation. If I could keep my thoughts intact and maintain a healthy mind set, a sharp mind, I knew that I could serve my sentence with less stress. This is the same ideology that I want to restore in the youth that are currently serving time or possibly facing time. That their mental chains can't be broken. And that is definitely a good thing.-Dieter Cantu

While other organizations work towards abolishing the School-to-Prison-Pipeline by focusing their attention on keeping students in school/preventing youth from ever having to experience being incarcerated, my approach is slightly different. My main focus is to work with the youth who are currently incarcerated by helping them transition back into the school system with a plan and achievable goals. My goal is to use education to reduce recidivism. and prevent repetitive cycles, that take place as a result of the school to prison pipeline practices, from happening in the future.

Over time as this project progresses and ideas develop I plan to add a support service component. The Cantu's Books to Incarcerated Youth Project will eventually transform into more than an educational strategy and relapse prevention project, but it will also function as alternative treatment for students that are facing probation sentencing, pretrial supervision, or attending alternative schools ... to help the youth avoid harsh punishment and serve as an alternative solution for the school to prison pipeline.

Although Position of Power (our base organization) is a 501c3 nonprofit, for this project we are not seeking nor accepting monetary donations. Please use any funding that you may have to help us out by purchasing books, stamps, shipping boxes, packing tape, or envelopes.We accept book donations by mail, our shipping address can be found on the contact page. Because shipping books can be expensive, we strongly encourage you to consider donating your books to one of our locations that may be geographically closer to you.

WE ARE AVAILABLE TO PICK UP ALL BOOK DONATIONS IF DISTANCE/TRANSPORTATION IS AN ISSUE FOR YOU.

Please email dietercantu@gmail.com prior to shipping/delivering if you have any questions. Books that we can not use will be passed along to Half Price Books.

What type of books are we seeking?

Language Books

ESL-English as a Second Language

Trade Skills (Welding, Plumbing, HVAC, etc)

Test Prep Books -GED, SAT

​Law Books

African American Studies​​

Latino Studies​

Psychology and Self Help

Books on social movements and autobiographies​

Business. Books About Running or Starting a Business.

Dictionaries

Encyclopedias

Thesauruses

Instructional Art. Tattoo Art.

​Career Choice Books

Academic Journals

Books we don't need

Hardback fiction

Romance novels​

Books that contain nudity

Children's picture books

​Magazines

Books with written notes or highlighting

Out-of-date texts or reference books

Any books that are very old or in poor condition

Missing pages or cover

Spiral or comb bound

Our Partners

“I believe in the power of knowledge. Allowing youth who are incarcerated an escape through reading and literacy is a cause that I greatly support, encourage, and promote. Cantu’s Book Project for Incarcerated Youth is a win-win for juvenile placement in Texas. The youth get an opportunity to read broadly, exploring subject matters and genres that they are not currently exposed. Additionally, Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) institutional and residential facilities can expand their libraries aiding the State of Texas in its ability to increase the literacy of youth in its care.”